§ 9-3-112.Payment or written acknowledgment equivalent to new promise
Chapter 3. Limitations of Actions · Article 6. Revival · Last amended 1933 · Last verified July 17, 2026
Full Text of § 9-3-112
Plain-English Summary
Not every debtor who wants to revive a stale debt sits down and writes out a promise. This section recognizes that a payment can say the same thing a written promise would. If a debtor makes a payment and that payment is entered onto a written instrument evidencing the debt — a note, a bill, an account record — or onto any other written acknowledgment of the existing liability, the law treats it as equivalent to a new promise to pay.
The key detail is that the payment has to be entered in writing on a document tied to the debt. A payment alone, without that written record connecting it to the specific liability, does not automatically substitute for the writing requirement O.C.G.A. § 9-3-110 demands of an actual new promise.
This gives debtors and creditors a practical shortcut: ordinary partial payments, properly recorded, do the legal work of a formal written promise, which keeps debt collection practice from requiring separate, redundant paperwork every time a debtor makes a payment that acknowledges the debt is still owed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a debtor have to write out a formal promise to revive a debt, or can a payment do it?
A payment can do it. When “entered upon a written evidence of debt by the debtor or upon any other written acknowledgment of the existing liability,” a payment is “equivalent to a new promise to pay.”
Where must the payment be recorded for this rule to apply?
On a written instrument evidencing the debt, or on some other written acknowledgment of the existing liability.
Who has to enter the payment for it to count under this section?
The debtor — the statute specifies a payment “entered upon a written evidence of debt by the debtor.”
Does this section replace the writing requirement in O.C.G.A. § 9-3-110?
No. It identifies a specific act — a recorded payment — that satisfies the same purpose as a written new promise, rather than eliminating the writing requirement generally.
What legal effect does a qualifying payment have on the debt?
The same effect as a new promise — under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-113, it revives or extends the original liability rather than creating a new one.
Amendment History
Orig. Code 1863, § 2876; Code 1868, § 2884; Code 1873, § 2935; Code 1882, § 2935; Civil Code 1895, § 3789; Civil Code 1910, § 4385; Code 1933, § 3-903.